The Dixie Chicks are in the news again, as they recall the controversy that engulfed them in 2003. Back then they thought it would go over well to criticize President Bush. Lead singer Natalie Maines said to a London crowd, Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas. At first, one would have thought a singer calling out a politician would get a yawn and a flip of the channel. But I guess we forgot that as country musicians, the main audience for the Chicks is the traditionally conservative areas of the country. As we all recall, radio stations stopped playing their music, and some even organized parties where Dixie Chicks merchandise was burned/destroyed. But aside from some good-natured redneck bonfires, the Chicks also got some death threats. Maines is still shaken up by the experience, as some of the threats were taken very seriously.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I wish I had thought of this when the depictions of the prophet Mohammed had been stirring up violence in the Middle East. People were calling for the executions of the Danes for depicting the prophet in cartoons. Here in the U.S., country singers were getting death threats for making an off-color remark about our countrys prophet-er, I mean president. So why would the cowboys and cowgirls of this country, who are often the ones most in favor of the war on terror, be behaving in a manner that was similar (at least arguably so) to those extremists abroad? Most curious. Lets be clear-I am all for burning the CDs of a band you dont like, and you can dislike them for political reasons if you want. But death threats? Come on people, George Bush aint no Mohammed!